1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus for transmission and reception of the image information.
2. Related Background Art
Recently, color facsimile apparatuses have been put into practical use in which a color original is read and a color image is transmitted. Also, recently, composite apparatuses have started to be widely used in which the facsimile feature is provided on copying apparatuses.
However, there has been a problem with a color facsimile apparatus since it was necessary to buy an expensive color dedicated facsimile apparatus to enable the transmission and reception of a color image, irrespective of a relatively low frequency of transmitting or receiving the color image. In addition, such color dedicated facsimile apparatuses had to be prepared on both the transmission and reception sides to allow the color image transmission.
Also, there is a drawback with the color image data that the transmission time is longer due to the large amount of information being transferred.
A composite apparatus has insufficient capability of the high-level image processing in which a copying unit portion only involves the simple image processing in most cases so that a facsimile portion transmits a processed image. Here, there is a problem that if a high-level image processing is applied by the copying unit portion, the amount of image data increases, so that it takes a longer communication time to transfer this image data via the facsimile portion.